placid calm, peaceful.
garrulous habitually talkative.
Bologna a city in northern Italy.
pall a cover for a coffin.
Michelangelo Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475–1564), Italian painter, sculptor, architect, and poet.
Montaigne Michel Eyquem de Montaigne (1533–92), French author.
Winckelmann Johann Joachim Winckelmann (1717–68), German philosopher, archaeologist, and art historian.
annihilated completely destroyed.
inveterate firmly established by long standing; deep-rooted.
impecuniosity poverty.
genial having a friendly, pleasant disposition. obsequious here, complacently complying.
flaccid lacking firmness; lacking energy.
death by misadventure The phrase does not specify suicide but implies some degree of fault or responsibility.
argot specialized language used by a particular group.
Symbolistes French, meaning "Symbolists." The term refers to the literary and artistic movement begun by French poets in the nineteenth century that spread throughout Europe and America, influencing painting and drama; closely associated with Aestheticism, it advocated individual freedom even in themes of decay, ruin, and the bizarre.
wan unnaturally pale; weary; ill.
